Barack Obama continued to lionize John F. Kennedy on Wednesday evening at a dinner where the President gave a speech introduced by JFK's grandson.

Jack Schlossberg, whose mother is Caroline Kennedy, introduced President Obama at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History where a dinner was held to honor recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, first minted by JFK.

'He reminded us that everyone has the capacity to explore, to imagine and to give back to our great nation no matter the path we choose,' Mr Schlossberg said of his grandfather.

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Barack Obama shakes hands with Jack Schlossberg (right), the grandson of President John F. Kennedy, after he introduced the President during a dinner at the Smithsonian on Wednesday

President Obama hugs Jack Schlossberg, grandson of JFK during a dinner in honor of the Medal of Freedom awardees

Obama shook hands and embraced the 20-year-old Yale student who has caused a buzz with his tall, dashing good looks and likeness to his uncle, the late John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in a plane crash in 1999.

There has been increasing interest in Mr Shlossberg, who is training to be an EMT, as he appears to be taking on the Kennedy legacy, making more public appearances and speaking engagements.

In his speech, Obama said JFK stays in America's imagination not because he was assassinated, but because he embodied the character of the people he led.

He said Kennedy was defiant in the face of impossible odds and determined to make the world anew.

'In his idealism - sober, squared jawed idealism - we are reminded that the power to change this country is ours,' Obama said.

'It is a legacy continued by his brothers and sisters who gave us a more gentle and compassionate country.'

Oprah Winfrey was a guest of honor at the Medal of Freedom awardees dinner after she received the prestigious title

President Obama and First Lady Michelle eat dinner with recipients of the Medal of Freedom at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History

President Obama added: 'This is a legacy
of a man who could have retreated to a life of luxury and ease, but he
chose to live a life in the arena. Sailing sometimes against the wind,
sometimes with it.'

The President and First Lady Michelle
hosted the dinner in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. Among those in
attendance were medal recipients Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton.

Others
who had the Medal of Freedom medal draped around their necks by Obama
earlier in the day included a wide range of American success stories,
from former Chicago Cubs baseball star Ernie Banks, country singer
Loretta Lynn and former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State John Kerry, Aretha Franklin and Henry Kissinger were also seen mingling at the event and enjoying music from Cuban-American jazz musician Arturo Sandoval.

Former President Bill Clinton mingles following the dinner while wearing his Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Barack Obama, right, talks with First Lady Michelle during the awards dinner

Mrs Obama and Oprah Winfrey share a laugh during the dinner at the D.C. museum

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (left) and her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton have a quiet word at the dinner

Earlier on Wednesday, President Obama and former President Bill Clinton silently honored fellow Democrat John F. Kennedy at the slain leader's grave, marking the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

Obama and Clinton, along with First Lady Michelle Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, laid a large blue and white wreath on the sun-dappled grave of JFK, who was gunned down in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

They then stood together, with hands on hearts, as a bugler played the US military lament 'Taps' before observing a moment of silence.

Present, past, and future: Presidents Obama and Clinton were accompanied by their wives at the Kennedy gravesite, and Hillary Clinton is thought to be the party's presidential frontrunner

Big day: The memorial ceremony was held just over an hour after President Obama awarded President Clinton the Medal of Freedom- an honor first established by President Kennedy in 1963

Support: Michelle and Barack Obama laid the wreath at the eternal flame that was established at President John F. Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery

Extended members of the Kennedy clan looked on at the tableau of presidential power, past, present, and possibly future.

The observance came more than an hour after Obama awarded Bill Clinton- and 15 other luminaries- with the highest US civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was first minted by Kennedy.

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Later today, Obama will pay tribute to Kennedy's legacy at a speech at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington honoring medal awardees.

The Kennedy grave and eternal flame is in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington in a hillside with a paved area fashioned from Cape Cod granite quarried from near Kennedy's ancestral home in Massachusetts.

Kennedy clan: Bobby Kennedy's widow Ethel (center) was on hand for the Washington memorial ceremony on Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as JFK's grandson- Caroline's son- Jack Schlossberg (right)

Holding hands: At the Medal of Freedom ceremony Wednesday morning, President Obama called Ethel Kennedy 'one of my favorite people' and she was accompanied by both Mr Obama and Mr Clinton as they headed to the grave

Surviving member: Ethel Skakel Kennedy is one of three spouses from the older generation of Kennedy relatives who is still alive, as her husband Robert 'Bobby' Kennedy was killed in 1968, just five years after JFK

The Kennedy look: Jack Schlossberg is Caroline Kennedy's 20-year-old son who is currently studying at Yale

The eternal flame was lit by Kennedy's wife Jacqueline Kennedy during his funeral in 1963 and she was buried beside her husband after her own death in 1994.

The poignant moment of remembrance came two days before the official half century anniversary of the death of Kennedy, who was gunned down in an open top limousine in Dallas, Texas, in a crime which traumatized the world.

The ceremonies have sparked a prolonged period of national and media reflection on the unfinished legacy of Kennedy, his tragedy-crossed family and of the evocative period in the early 1960s when his political star illuminated the world.

Kennedy's closest living relative, his daughter Caroline however, was not at Wednesday's ceremony. An early supporter of Obama's presidential ambitions, she has just set off on a new chapter of her life as the US ambassador to Tokyo.

Kennedy connection: Bill Clinton has often cited his meeting with President Kennedy in 1963 as one of the moments when he decided he wanted to become a politician

Wave of approval: Caroline Kennedy's endorsement of Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008 was deemed a turning point in the highly contentious Democratic primary contest that year

He was busy: Former President Bush made an appearance on Jay Leno's talk show in Los Angeles Tuesday night and did not attend the wreath-laying ceremony. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were also missing

The joint Obama-Clinton appearance at
the grave site represented the latest show of unity between two
political power families who waged a bitter 2008 Democratic presidential
nominating duel.

Hillary
Clinton is now the favorite to land the Democratic nomination for the
2016 election -- but has not said whether she will make another run for
the White House.

Presidents
Clinton and Obama, both of whom were elected to second terms, laid claim
to the legacy of John F. Kennedy in their own White House runs.

Next generation: President Obama held a newborn Kennedy under the watchful eye of the child's mother Maeve Kennedy McKeon, whose mother Kathleen was one of Bobby Kennedy's 13 children

Relaxed moment: The ceremony was serious at the beginning but the attendees spent time chatting after the wreath was laid

Clinton
was famously pictured meeting Kennedy at an event in the White House
Rose Garden in July 1963, and has reminisced about how he set eyes on
the presidency himself after shaking JFK's hand.

Obama, who was two years old when the
35th US president was killed, accepted Kennedy's torch of Democratic
Party idealism in a key moment of the 2008 campaign -- which irked the
Clintons -- from president Kennedy's late brother, Senator Edward
Kennedy, at American University in Washington.

The
two presidents stood together at a painful political moment for Obama
after being brought low by the botched implementation of his signature
health care law.

In the
Medal of Freedom ceremony, Obama said that Clinton's presidency proved
that it was possible to grow the economy, cut the deficit and invest in
science, technology and education -- remarks which mirrored his own core
political argument to American voters.

Kennedy's killing was blamed on a gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, who the government concluded to be acting alone.

But
the 50 years since have been replete with conspiracy theories centering
on whether Oswald was the true culprit and if he was acting on his own
initiative or was part of a wider plot.

Paying respects: Though President Kennedy's family initially wanted him to be buried by the family plot in Massachusetts, Jackie insisted he be buried in Washington

Tributes: This week has been filled with ceremonies in honor of the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death on November 22, 1963

Back to the District: Arlington National Cemetery is just across the Potomac River, a short drive from the White House